Steve Rose: Jewelry Robbery is Reminder to Beware Who's Watching You

Recently we were called to a robbery where a jewelry sales couple was robbed after a sales call at a local jewelers. As the pair entered their car, another car pulled up and 3-4 masked men got out and pulled weapons and robbed the pair of thousands of dollars in jewelry. 

Over the years, I've seen this one play out half a dozen times. The crooks picked up on the salesperson's schedules and followed them until they had it down pat. At that point where the victims are most vulnerable, they're robbed--usually in a parking lot or other semi-isolated area. 

Their downfall: A never-changing routine. 

Not all of us carry thousands of dollars of cash or goods on us but I am still surprised at how low a priority security is for those who are literally risking their lives carrying hot commodities like jewelry. 

Another favorite target is restaurant or other cash business owners who leave with the night's deposit and casually drive home only to find that once they step out of the car, they're accosted with guns in their faces. I've seen as much as $60,000 taken in what turned out to be a simple robbery with absolutely no security whatsoever. 

So, for the most part, few of us reading this are in that category, the hot commodity, high risk business of carrying around what others want, but if you are, a few simple things will make you a tough target to hit.  

Rule 1: Be systematically unsystematic.

Don't do anything the same way twice within a reasonable time. Vary your routine and time line--especially if you are on the road making sales calls all day. 

Obviously, if you don't have to carry all that bling around with you, you're in better shape but if you do, put together a plan and mix it up. This would include changing out cars from time to time. Hiring security to make sure you get to your car and gone without incident. If you are toting a large amount of diamonds or other jewelry, $100,000 to $300,000 ( this is not uncommon) then I would, occasionally, hire an off-duty cop to make the rounds with you. 

Maybe these things aren't your cup of tea and so maybe you have other ideas but the worst thing you can do is not have any kind of security measure in place. Don't go on the old theory that "It only happens to other people."

For those of you in the restaurant business, don't take your deposit home! Use a night drop at one of the banks but take some measures before you do. First of all, you can ALWAYS call 9-1-1 and request an officer to meet you and accompany you to do the night drop. Arrange for a service to move your money but don't take the money to the bank at the same time, same day, and same way. Don't do this alone. Have someone accompany you. Crooks look to pick off single victims. Having someone else with you increases your chance that the crook who was watching you, will back off--for now. 

Rule 2: Follow Through 

Don't get lazy after putting into play a good security plan. The bad thing about good crime prevention is that you really can't measure when you've prevented something. Just take heart knowing that by doing these things consistently, you're in the five-percentile of those who crooks really don't want to risk getting caught trying to victimize.

A lot of this also applies to us humans every day when it comes to thefts and burglary but for those of you with unusually high amounts of goods or cash, you should really sit down and put a plan in place. Call us BEFORE and not after. You'll feel much better.